C. DIVINITIES AND PROTECTIVE FIGURES

Almost all African animistic religions are monotheistic, believing in a Creator and Omnipotent God who, given his immensity and greatness, is far removed from men. Man so small and so imperfect cannot address himself directly to such a superior Being, for in these traditional African civilizations a inferior being will always address a superior being, whether head of village or king, through an intermediary. But since man continually needs intercession and God’s help he will address a whole series of intermediaries, the closest being the ancestor. The ancestor, in most cases, will be the mediator with the intermediate powers. The range of these spiritual beings is very wide. God has created a universe that participates and receives the graces of His divinity. Without falling into pantheism, African animists grant a soul to all beings of creation. Thus the rivers that allow the fishing and irrigation of the fields in the service of men, the animals of the forest that seek their nourishment, the trees and plants that are living beings, for they grow and develop and so many other elements of nature that participate in a force emanating from the divinity. These beings inhabited by this force are called geniuses or deities of nature or intermediate gods. There are also deities from very different backgrounds, a totemic or mythological animal that saved the clan’s founding hero, a civilizing hero, and even a king who over time has become divinity. Gods of the sun of fire, thunder or goddesses of the moon or waters abound in African pantheons. The man will turn to them for mediation. But some of these deities can become capricious and if man wants to obtain his favors he must make offerings or make sacrifices and libations. Many of these divinities and geniuses of nature are represented in statues and masks but the Creator God is never represented in African art nor receives worship directly.